Blow a nine run lead ... no worries

Last night's disappointing loss could drive some team's fans crazy. The Mets have suffered a couple of losses -- runner does not tag third and dropped pop up -- that could take weeks off a fan's life. The Cubs ... well they certainly have found interesting ways to lose. By the way Milton and Lou, dysfunction is spelled with a "y". So when the Red Sox lose a game after being up 10-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, with the best bull pen in the league, with the entire infield jogging in after the second out of an inning, with the manager removing the starting catcher (has anyone else noticed how uncomfortable the relievers, especially Papelbon, are with the Greek?), with all the crazy bloop, swinging bunt, seeing eye hits, with Lugo failing to get down a bunt what is a Red Sox fan supposed to do?

I watched the expressions / body language of the team. Francona sprinted to the clubhouse. Saito sat there in disbelief (I really like him), Papelbon had that crazed Jack Bauer look about him, and Pedroia quietly watched the Orioles celebrate their World Series win. I then turned off the plasma (and unplugged it because someone said if you leave it plugged in it still sucks your power) and calmly retreated to the bedroom to finish a good book.

Absolutely no increased heart rate, no heading out to bar to relieve the pain, no swearing, no throwing the remote (2003 ALDS game 1 vs Oakland - Ramon Hernandez lays down a perfect bunt with two outs and the winning run on third !!! Who does that?), no waking up the wife to tell her the play by play what happened and no way was I going to post an emotion filled blog at midnight. What has happened to me? Well, that's when the book comes in.

I have a big brother who I have figuratively (not literally since I was 13 and he was 20) looked up to. He sent me a Father's Day gift in the mail realizing I had recently had a minor disappointment and needed a little reminder that life was good. He sent me a book entitled, "No I Can Die in Peace" by Bill Simmons.

Bill Simmons is the popular columnist for ESPN.com's Page 2. He is a die hard Patriot, Bruin, Celtic and Red Sox fan. He started off writing a blog as the "Boston Sports Guy". No known simply as the "Sport's Guy", Simmons is very entertaining incorporating pop culture into his perspectives. This book was published in 2005 and includes many of the on line posts that Simmons wrote either for his original web site and then ESPN concerning his journey as a Sox fan up to Edgar Renteria's come backer to Keith Foulke.

I would read some of these passages and start laughing out loud getting quizzical looks from people on the beach, my children and most of all my wife. Two examples. Page 5 -- Simmons is explaining rules that people should live by when rooting for a team. Rule No. 5 was "If you marry someone who roots for another team, you can't be bullied into switching allegiances." His footnote to this had me crying. "By the way, I have to question any Red Sox fan who would marry a Yankee fan. Unless you have never been laid before and this is legitimately your only chance to having sex, it's simply unacceptable. Would you marry someone from Al-Qaeda?" I do have a friend who married a Yankee fan. Enough said. Page 314 -- Commenting on the AROD -- Arroyo play in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS, " (it) clearly exposed A-Rod as a liar and cheater of the highest order - the kind who would turn over an R in Scrabble and pretend it's a blank letter." Not less than a week ago my wife tried this on me in a game of Scrabble. She was "amazed" I noticed an extra blank on the board.

These are just two examples of things I could relate to in this book. Movies (Shawshank, Godfather, Rocky), television (White Shadow, Beverly Hills 90210) and people (Bush, Jessica Biel vs Alba) are used as examples or metaphors in explaining his point of view or what he was feeling. Made for an enjoyable read.

The message from this book is -- We are no longer a joke. Because what that group did and how they did it in 2004, baseball fans especially Yankee fans have a lot less ammunition. Even before the 2007 championship, we could hold our heads high and be proud of that one year. Now? We live in the Golden Era of the Boston Red Sox. It is just that simple. There have been many of Red Sox fans from 1918 to 2003 that would have negotiated parts of their lives to see the Red Sox win a World Series. Having the team in the playoffs, winning the division, going to the ALCS and winning it all not once but twice in our lifetimes makes us spoiled and very, very fortunate. So losing a nine run lead may make me wonder but does not discourage me.

I want to thank my brother for sending me this book and making me realize I have it as Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm would say, "Prettay, prettay good".